The Essentials of Spirituality | Page 4

so divest them of reference to life's highest end.
For instance, the pursuit of science may have this effect, if the sole
object of the scientist be to perform some astonishing piece of work for
the purpose of attracting attention or to secure a well-salaried position,
or even if he be so wedded to his specialty as to fail to be sensitive to
the relations of it to the body of truth in general. And the same holds
good of the narrow-minded reformer, of whom Emerson has said that
his virtue so painfully resembles vice; the man who puts a moral idol in
the place of the moral ideal, who erects into the object toward which all
his enthusiasm goes some particular reform, such as the single tax, or
socialism, or public parks, or a model school; the man, in short, who
strives for a good instead of striving for goodness. Whatever our
pursuits may be, we should often mentally detach ourselves from them,
and, standing aloof as impartial spectators, consider the direction in
which they are taking us.

This counsel is frequently urged on grounds of health, since the wear
and tear of too intense absorption in any pursuit is apt to wreck the
nervous system. I urge it on the ground of mental sanity, since a man
cannot maintain his mental poise if he follows the object of his
devotion singly, without seeing it in relation to other objects. And I
urge it also on the ground of spirituality, for a salient characteristic of
spirituality is calmness, and without the mental repose which comes of
detachment we cannot import calmness into our lives. There are some
persons, notably among those engaged in philanthropic activities, who
glory in being completely engrossed in their tasks, and who hug a
secret sense of martyrdom, when late at night, perhaps worn out in
mind and body, they throw themselves upon their couch to snatch a few
hours of insufficient sleep. Great occasions, of course, do occur when
every thought of self should be effaced in service; but as a rule,
complete absorption in philanthropic activity is as little sane and as
little moral as complete absorption in the race for gain. The tired and
worn-out worker cannot do justice to others, nor can he do justice to
that inner self whose demands are not satisfied even by philanthropic
activity. If, then, self-recollection is essential, let us make daily
provision for it. Some interest we should have--even worldly prudence
counsels this much--as far remote as possible from our leading interest;
and beyond that, some book belonging to the world's great spiritual
literature on which we may daily feed. The Bible used to be in the old
days all-sufficient for this purpose, and it is still, in part at least, an
admirable aid to those who know how to use it. But there are other
books, such as the legacy of the great Stoics, the writings of our
latter-day prophets, the essays of Arnold and Carlyle and Emerson, the
wisdom of Goethe. These noble works, even if they do not wholly
satisfy us, serve to set our thoughts in motion about high concerns, and
give to the mind a spiritual direction.
A second condition of the spiritual life has been expressed in the
precept, reiterated in many religions, by many experts in things relating
to the life of the soul: "Live as if this hour were thy last." You will
recall, as I pronounce these words, the memento mori of the Ancients,
their custom of exhibiting a skeleton at the feast, in order to remind the
banqueters of the fate that awaited them. You will remember the

other-worldliness of Christian monks and ascetics who decried this
pleasant earth as a vale of tears, and endeavored to fix the attention of
their followers upon the pale joys of the Christian heaven, and you will
wonder, perhaps, that I should be harking back to these conceptions of
the past. I have, however, no such intention.
The prevailing attitude toward the thought of death is that of studied
neglect. Men wish to face it as little as possible. We know, of course,
what the fate is that awaits us. We know what are the terms of the
compact. Now and again we are momentarily struck by the pathos of it
all; for instance, when we walk through some crowded thoroughfare on
a bright day and reflect that before many years this entire multitude will
have disappeared. The rosy-cheeked girl who has just passed; the gay
young fellow at her side, full of his hopes, confident of his
achievements, acting and speaking as if the lease of eternity were his;
that "grave and reverend seigneur," clad with dignity and authority--all
will have gone, and others will have taken their places.